Close call! Kanye West managed to keep his romantic proposal for girlfriend Kim Kardashian completely under wraps until it happened -- but the surprise was almost spoiled just a few hours before he got down on one knee, when a couple of radio DJs put him on the spot and asked if he planned to marry the mother of his 4-month-old daughter, North.

"I just feel so blessed," the rapper said, clearly avoiding the question, during an interview with KMEL hosts Sana & Kimmie on Monday, Oct. 21, Kardashian's 33rd birthday. Then, smiling and looking away, he added, "I'm not answering those questions."

Other questions about the couple's relationship were fair game, though. In fact, the 36-year-old hip hop star -- who, as previously reported, proposed with an elaborate, carefully orchestrated production at San Francisco's AT&T Park on Monday -- couldn't wait to talk about how much he adores his reality star girlfriend.

"I have never loved any girl, other than my mother, as much as I love my girlfriend," he told the hosts of Kardashian, 33. (The "Black Skinhead" rapper's beloved mother, Dr. Donda West, passed away suddenly at age 58 in 2007 following a botched plastic surgery procedure.)

"I'm so happy to be with her, to live this life together, and -- with our relationship with God -- to be able to live forever in heaven together, and also to raise a strong family that communicates truth and beauty," he added.

Beauty, and fashion, are part of what bonds the happy couple together, he added. "This girl is one of the No. 1 designers in the world. I don't know exactly what her numbers are, but Sears does something like 300, 400 million a year," West said. "She's been spending her whole check on clothes since she was 16, just like me."

"That's the reason why both of us are the most influential," he continued. "I think me and my girl are extremely influential ... Nah, me and my girl are the most influential."

In West's eyes, at least, he and his fiancee are the ultimate power couple. He said he sees in her some of the characteristics that have made pal Jay Z such a pop culture icon.

"One of the reasons I did Watch the Throne with Jay wasn't just to do a dope album, which we did. It was because Jay Z has the best social skills of anyone that I knew at that time," he explained. "And I wanted to learn from him. I wanted to learn how to move in a room full of vultures ... just to knock the edge off and learn from Jay. And God has now given me another master of the social skills, my girl. She's like the No. 1 socialite in the world."